Blue Jays snap losing streak but it still won't be a September to remember

Cavan Biggio #8 of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a home run in the third inning during a MLB game against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre on September 10, 2019 in Toronto, Canada.Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images

It was never going to be an easy month for the Blue Jays, there never really was a shot at meaningful September baseball.

But a 100-loss season? That wasn’t written anywhere on the blueprint for this tumultuous rebuild. With just 17 games remaining in what almost certainly will be the team’s worst campaign in four decades, it’s a possibility that still exists, however.

There was a pause in the dire numbers Tuesday at the Rogers Centre when home runs by Red Sox killer Rowdy Tellez and fellow rookies Cavan Biggio and Reese McGuire helped the Jays to a 4-3 win over the World Series champs.

While the rare victory ended a season-high seven-game losing streak, the team still must go 7-10 down what barely resembles a stretch to avoid triple-digit losses.

On one level, the season can’t end soon enough. On another, there are opportunities like Tuesday where the learning experience can be coupled with a win against a division rival.

“We just got off to a slow start offensively and then we had all the pitching injuries,” general manager Ross Atkins said on Tuesday. “I did not expect both of those things to happen.

“We expected that we could overcome some injuries. To all have the setbacks they all had. Unless you have a farm system ready (it’s tough.)”

Tough enough that barring a massive rally over the remainder of the schedule, the Jays will finish the farthest from the .500 mark and the farthest from the AL East lead since the 1979 season, just the third in franchise history.

You can debate the relevance of the final numbers, but what would be just a fourth 100-plus loss season certainly piles some pressure on to next year. Attendance is down as it is, as are television ratings and the bean counters that have savaged the Sportsnet hockey budget could well have the knives sharpened.

As you would expect, Atkins isn’t looking at a doom scenario, focusing rather on what he believes are significant organizational improvements. While there have been predictable highs and lows from such a young roster, the kids have played and played often.

“What we focus on is things we can control,” Atkins said of the diminishing remainder of 2019. “We’ll go out and try to win tonight and we try to win tomorrow. We’ll continue to try to make the organization better and think about what it means for our future.

“The positive is what we’re focused on. The development of the young players that are here, the development of the young players that are coming.”

With that in mind, Atkins pointed to a couple of rookies beyond the universal love-in for Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. Even before Tellez and McGuire had big home runs on Tuesday, their GM was lauding them for making a strong late-season impact.

Despite winning just four of their past 20 games, Atkins hasn’t detected a lull in enthusiasm from his young team. A rough run of games, which included series against the Dodgers, Astros and Braves, was a difficult assignment, Atkins reasoned.

“The guys have been great,” Atkins said. “They’ve played some really good teams and as a young core transitioning, that’s a great challenge. They’ve embraced it well as we expect them to continue to do.

“I don’t feel as if they are hitting a wall. I see good energy. I see guys who are battling whether it be offensively or defensively. Our pitching has really turned the corner and we’ve been in every game, for the most part.

“Our guys are getting better. They’re cohesive. They’re upbeat and in the ninth inning of every game, they’re expecting to win.”

ROWDY TIME

While the final record won’t mean much, September is definitely a big month for Tellez, a point Montoyo often repeats.

His two-run blast on Tuesday was not only the biggest hit of the game, it was his sixth in 10 games vs. the Sox and his 18th of the season.

“I’m just trying to put a good swing on balls and hit balls hard,” Tellez said. “I’m just getting to pitches I need to get to and not trying to do too much. Sometimes when I was younger I tried to hit the ball a country mile.”

Including his September cameo last year, Tellez now has 25 big-league homers, just the fourth player in Jays history to have that many in his first 120 games.

‘That’s the Rowdy we’re hoping to get,” Montoyo said.

GAME ON

Though he didn’t factor in the decision, it was an uneven outing for Jays rookie T.J. Zeuch, who was making the first true start of his career and his first Rogers Centre appearance.

The former first-round pick lasted 4.1 innings allowing three runs on six hits and three walks. It was also a rather rude introduction to the Rogers Centre for the 24-year-old as Red Sox first baseman Mookie Betts clobbered the first pitch of the game off the foul pole in left.

Zeuch was the lead man in a parade of seven pitchers employed on the night by Jays manager Charlie Montoyo.

– Biggio got the Jays on the board with his 13th of the season in the third inning and McGuire hit his fifth out in the fourth.

– Among the positives, Atkins and his staff would have taken out of Tuesday’s game were a couple of individual outs in the fourth and fifth innings. First, there was a diving Biggio stab to rob Marco Hernandez of a hit to end the fourth. And to lead off the fifth, Guerrero made an incredible grab and throw from his knees to gun down speedy Betts at first.

– Closer Ken Giles needed 29 pitches to get it done, but close he did in the ninth to earn his 19th save of the season.